2015 NHL Draft

Gabryel Boudreau faced plenty of uncertainly the past few months, but it appears things are starting to get back on track for the 20-year-old forward.

Boudreau, the Sharks’ second round draft pick in 2013, had his 2014-15 season almost completely wiped out due to problems with his left wrist. He played seven games at the start of the regular season but couldn’t continue, and had surgery to repair the tendon in January. He needed 6-8 weeks of physiotherapy after the operation, and only returned to play for Chicoutimi in the QMJHL playoffs.

“It happened while shooting pucks,” Boudreau said last week as he showed the scar from the surgery. “The doctor said I had the tendon of a 75-year-old person from overshooting. You can’t really control it, but right now everything is fine.”

It didn’t take Timo Meier very long this week to demonstrate why he was so highly touted going into this year’s NHL entry draft.

Meier, the No. 9 overall pick by the Sharks last month, hasn’t been shy about playing his own assertive game whenever they have been on the ice through the first four days of the Sharks’ development camp.

“As camp’s gone on, I think he’s gotten better and better,” San Jose Barracuda coach Roy Sommer said Thursday. “He’s a power forward, goes hard to the net, big body and it looks like he’s hard to stop.

The Sharks have signed forward Timo Meier to a standard entry level contract. Signing and performance bonuses in the deal are not known, but the maximum allowable deal for players signing an entry level contract is three years at $925,000 per season.

The 6-foot-1, 209-pound Meier, the ninth overall pick in last month’s NHL entry draft, had 90 points in 61 games for Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season. .

“Timo is a dynamic forward who has outstanding finishing skills,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said in a statement. “His big, pro frame allows him to be successful in all three zones, and his high hockey IQ has already become evident at our Prospects Development Camp. We look forward to watching his continued development.”

Unless he knocks everyone’s socks off at training camp in September, it would seem Meier will go back to junior hockey in the fall for another season. But minutes after he was drafted, Meier said his mindset for training camp was to come in and make a push to make the team.

The Sharks announced their roster for next week’s development camp, which begins Monday and includes Thursday’s scrimmage at SAP Center. As of Friday, the roster has 25 forwards, 14 defensemen and four goaltenders.

Interesting to note, forward Gabryel Boudreau was invited to the camp on a tryout basis. The Sharks drafted Boudreau in 2013, but he was not tendered a contract and reentered the draft. He was not drafted, and now has another shot in San Jose.

They may need to acquire a few more players to wear them (UFA period starts Wednesday), but the Sharks on Monday unveiled new commemorative logos for their 25th Anniversary season.

Here is the primary logo.

Like you saw at the draft, here is the patch on the Sharks new’ sweaters.

Here is the secondary commemorative mark.

From the team:

Several of the team’s commemorative 25th anniversary logos were unveiled Monday. The primary 25th anniversary logo features a new, “swimming” Shark with an exposed tail hovering above a diamond-encrusted “25”. This mark will be worn as a patch on the team’s game jerseys throughout the 2015-16 season.

Pierre LeBrun noted in his ESPN column Saturday afternoon that there wasn’t much that separated the Sharks and Canucks from completing a deal for defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Or maybe it just doesn’t seem like much on the surface.

According to LeBrun, Canucks GM Jim Benning wanted a second-round pick in this year’s draft and the Sharks were only willing to provide a second-rounder next year.

From LeBrun:

“Going in, the market place dictates that Johnny Boychuk went for two second-round picks,” Benning said, citing last fall’s deal between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders. “Kevin is a little bit older. That’s what our asking price was [a second-round pick this year]. I don’t think it’s too much, I think it’s fair. That’s what we were trying to get if we were going to move Kevin.”

In talking with Wilson today, the Sharks did not want to move their second rounder they had at No. 39. Turns out they needed that pick, and others, to get the No. 31 pick from Colorado so they could draft defenseman Jeremy Roy from Sherbrooke of the QMJHL.

“We viewed him as a first round prospect and we were trying to figure out ways all day (Friday) to try and move up to get him,” Wilson said via conference call. “He was one of the top defensemen in this draft class. This is a guy we wanted badly, and I have no problem paying full value or even overpaying to get someone you really want. There’s no chance he would have fallen to 39.”

Should preface this by saying I haven’t spoken with GM Doug Wilson yet, but the Sharks finished the 2015 NHL Draft with nine selections, eight coming today. The first one happened right out of the gate, as the Sharks sent three picks to the Avalanche, 39th this year, a 2nd rounder next year and a sixth rounder in 2017, for No. 31 that was used on D Jeremy Roy. The picks given up for the next two drafts were previously acquired in last year’s Brad Stuart trade.

But perhaps the biggest news was that there was no real big news. The Kevin Bieksa deal died on the vine. The Sharks didn’t swing a deal for a goalie, and presently only have two netminders under contract (Stalock, Grosenick) after they dealt Antti Niemi’s negotiation rights to the Dallas Stars for pick No. 193 this year, which turned into 6-foot-5 goalie John Kupsky of Waukeshaw, Wisconsin.

We’ll have updates later with Wilson’s comments. But in the last few minutes in talks with reporters who are at the draft, Wilson said …

Not so fast on that deal between the Sharks and Canucks to bring Kevin Bieksa to San Jose.

Just hours after it was reported Kevin Bieksa was willing to waive his no-trade clause to come to San Jose, and the framework of a new contract extension with the 34-year-old defenseman was also supposedly in place, the deal stalled, with Darren Dreger speculating the Sharks were unwilling to part with two second round draft choices for Bieksa.

The contract extension was for $18 million over four years, according to Dreger.

Here are Dreger’s full comments to TSN 1040 radio this afternoon.

Deals not done. Maybe we’re splitting hairs here. There’s all kinds of speculation swirling out there. As I tweeted earlier in the day there’s the basis of an agreement on an extension between Bieksa and the (Sharks), but obviously they’ve got to get a deal done with the Vancouver Canucks.

With bolstering their blueline and finding an experienced goalie two of their greatest offseason needs, the Sharks are reportedly showing interest in acquiring defenseman Kevin Bieksa and a goalie from the Vancouver Canucks. Rumors also include the deal would include the two teams swapping first round picks (San Jose’s ninth for Vancouver’s 23rd)

“Don’t know how far along it is…but Sharks appear to be very interested in Bieksa,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted Thursday night.

Bieksa, who has a no-move clause, is in the final season of a five-year contract that will carry a cap hit of $4.8 million this upcoming season.

Earlier Thursday, TSN’s Farhan Lalji tweeted “To clarify, #canucks have spoken to Bieksa about moving on. He’s agreed to waive if the right trade comes. A trade hasn’t been finalized.”

The 34-year-old Bieksa had four goals and 10 assists in 60 games last year.

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said last week that new coach Peter DeBoer should have his assistant coaches in place by early July when the team holds its prospect development camp at Sharks Ice. The former Sharks coach, though, filled out his staff with a couple of familiar faces.

The Edmonton Oilers announced Thursday that Jay Woodcroft and Jim Johnson will be assistants on Todd McLellan’s staff for the upcoming season. Both Woodcroft and Johnson were let go by the Sharks when McLellan and the team parted ways in April.

Woodcroft joining McLellan again was no surprise, as McLellan basically told the Edmonton Sun at the World Championships that Woodcroft would be coming with him wherever he landed. The two have worked together since their days in Detroit a decade ago. Johnson’s future seemed a bit more murky, as he had been only been behind the bench with McLellan for the last three seasons. Clearly, McLellan values Johnson’s experience, particularly in working with defensemen.